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The pharmacokinetics of carumonam after single and multiple intravenous administration of 1- and 2-g dosage regimens were studied in 12 young male volunteers. Plasma and urine samples were collected in serial order for 24 h and assayed by high-pressure liquid chromatography. The mean elimination half-life of carumonam was not significantly affected by either dosage regimen or single dose versus steady state, ranging from 1.3 to 1.5 h. Mean concentrations at the end of the interval were not influenced by a multiple-dose administration. The normalized volume of distribution was independent of the dose, with values ranging from 0.16 to 0.19 liters/kg. After multiple administration, carumonam was cleared from the body more rapidly: from 96.2 to 121.7 ml/min after 1 g every 8 h, and from 102.1 to 122.3 ml/min after 2 g every 8 h (P less than 0.05). After 24 h, 75.0 to 80.7% of the dose was excreted unchanged in the urine. The protein binding of carumonam to human plasma remained stable at 28%. Carumonam was well tolerated by the volunteers.

The pharmacokinetics and blister fluid penetration of oral ciprofloxacin were compared in 11 cystic fibrosis (CF) patients who had sputum colonization but were asymptomatic and in 12 healthy volunteers after a single dose (500 mg) and at steady state (500 mg every 8 h). The antibacterial effect of ciprofloxacin therapy was also evaluated by bacterial counts of colonizing pathogens in the respiratory secretions of CF patients. The CF patients were 15.9% lighter in weight than the controls (P less than 0.05). After a single dose, the elimination half-life of ciprofloxacin was decreased by a third in the CF patients as compared with the controls (2.62 versus 3.93 h, respectively; P less than 0.01). This was the result of a diminished apparent volume of distribution in CF subjects. Interestingly, we observed no statistically significant difference in total apparent and renal clearances between the groups. Suction-induced blister fluid penetration was not different between CF patients and healthy volunteers. In CF patients, ciprofloxacin exhibited levels in respiratory secretions above the reported MIC for Pseudomonas aeruginosa: 1.36 and 1.86 micrograms/ml at 2 h after a single dose and at steady state, respectively. An important fall (mean, 3.9 log10/ml) in the log titer in 10 patients with P. aeruginosa in their respiratory secretions was observed after 5 days of treatment. However, this improvement was short-lived; the secondary increase in bacterial counts observed in five patients and the development of five resistant strains were causes for concern. The pharmacokinetic results presented here showed that ciprofloxacin should be administered every 8 or even every 6 h in CF patients.

The pharmacokinetics and the suction-induced blister fluid penetration of ciprofloxacin were compared after a single dose (500 mg) and after multiple dosing (500 mg q8h for 13 doses). Significantly higher peak levels of ciprofloxacin in serum were observed after multiple dosing (3.51 versus 2.26 micrograms/ml; P less than 0.01). Increased elimination half-life occurred after multiple dosing; this seems to be mostly related to decreased systemic clearance secondary to a diminished nonrenal clearance (240.0 versus 125.0 ml/min). Ciprofloxacin appeared rapidly in the blister fluid, and the percentage of penetration (AUC0-tBF/AUC0-t serum) yielded values of 88.8 versus 84.7% after single and multiple doses, respectively. Ciprofloxacin levels in serum and blister fluid at the end of the dosing interval (8 h) were superior or almost superior to MICs for sensitive organisms including Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Comparative studies of ciprofloxacin metabolite excretion after multiple doses in healthy subjects and in renal insufficiency patients are needed.